Into the Darkness
by Zelas Metalium
Summary: Lina and company is thrown into a strange realm of pure darkness. Within the darkness old and new friends appear to them and start attacking. None of them know what's going on, just that Xelloss is somehow behind it.


**Disclaimer** All Characters and places of _Slayers_ are copyright of Hajime Kanzaka, and whoever else owns them. That does not include me.

Yeah, I thought I'd go out on a limb with the disclaimer this time... If you've read the others I've put on here, then you know what I mean!

**Into the Darkness**

Xelloss watched the strange group of travelers intently. This was his fourth day of following them. He had been moving above them up in the trees to avoid detection, but he had a hunch that the young sorceress with fiery hair sensed him. He saw her once again look her shoulder in his general direction.

_Heh. Nothing ever gets past you,_ Lina Inverse. He thought with a smile. As she turned back around to rejoin her three companions, Xelloss gladly noted the look of unease that appeared on her face. She definitely knew he was there.

"Sorry, Lina, but I must remain hidden from you for a little longer..." He said to the wind, which carried his voice to the young sorceress' waiting ears...

--------

Although they hadn't experienced any attacks lately, Lina was on full alert. For the past several days Lina had the very unsettling feeling of being followed. What was even more unsettling though, was that she was certain it wasn't your average bandit... but a mazoku. Suddenly the feeling grew and she looked over her shoulder for maybe the hundredth time that day. When she had convinced herself that there was nothing there, she turned and continued on with the others. After only a second had passed, like she somewhat expected, she heard a very familiar voice address her through the wind... at a volume level she knew she wasn't meant to hear. She always did prize her excellent hearing...

She picked up her speed until she was walking directly between Zelgadiss and Gourry.

"You remember when I told you I thought we were being followed?"

"Yeah..." Zelgadiss said hesitantly.

"Well, I think its Xelloss. And something tells me that it isn't a social call."

"Is it ever?" Zelgadiss replied bitterly.

"Heh, good point..." Lina said as she tried to think of possible things Xelloss could want.

"So, what do you think he's up to now?" Amelia piped up from the other side of Zelgadiss, as if in response to Lina's thoughts.

"I don't know... but I have a really bad feeling about it, whatever it is... Hey, Gourry, you've been awfully quiet, what's up?"

Gourry shook his head suddenly as if he had just came out of a powerful trance, then said to Lina:

"Huh? Oh, sorry. What were you saying Lina? I wasn't listening."

Somehow, Lina wasn't surprised; maybe she was finally getting use to having to repeat entire conversations to the dim-witted swordsman. She sighed and then continued to explain the past few minutes of conversation Gourry ignored.

"There, you got it now?" She said when she had finished.

"Yeah... so, what do you think he wants?"

"That is what we are currently trying to figure out." Zelgadiss said, apparently deciding it was safe to rejoin the conversation. The four travelers continued on in silence, each lost in their own thoughts. 

--------

Xelloss continued to follow them as he listened to their conversation, intrigued.

_Hmm... This creates a bit of a problem... but I must say that I'm not quite surprised that they figured it out. As I said, nothing gets past _Lina! He thought with his usual smile.

"Well, I guess I'll just have to start the fun a little sooner than planned." He said to himself extremely quietly to make certain that Lina did not hear him this time. He watched as the group walked into a big, open clearing.

"Ah, yes, this place will do." 

--------

As Lina and the others stepped into the clearing, her feeling of uneasiness grew. She looked around for anything unusual, and she knew the others were as well. Suddenly, from across the clearing, something glimmered in the sunlight... something gold. Her eyes widened with hope and anticipation as she slowly approached it. When she had reached the other end she saw that it was a single gold coin.

"Ohhh... lucky me!" She squealed excitedly as she bent to pick it up. The moment she touched it, everything around her started to change and go black.

"Damn, how could I be so stupid!" 

--------

Zelgadiss was on guard, ready to cast a spell at a moment's notice. He moved cautiously about the clearing. He noticed that Lina was approaching the opposite side with a very peculiar look on her face. He recognized it as the look she normally gets when going through the treasure of a bandit's hideout. He shook his head and sighed as he continued to look around. Then, he saw a young girl holding a stack of parchment. She held it up to him so he could see what it was.

"The Claire Bible... " He said in awe. He advanced toward the girl quickly, but cautiously. When he neared she held it out so he could take it. When he touched it, everything began changing.

"What the...?" 

--------

Amelia watched as both Lina and Zelgadiss went to different ends of the clearing. They both had strange looks about them; maybe they saw something? Then she heard Zelgadiss say something about the Claire Bible. She thought this strange, but since finding his cure was the only thing he ever thought about, she didn't bother to see what he meant. It was probably nothing anyway. She looked towards another end of the clearing, boredom coming on fast. She couldn't believe what she saw standing there. It was a big bear of a man, who might have been intimidating if it weren't for his big smile.

"Daddy!" Amelia said as she broke into a sudden run, arms open wide. She jumped into his arms and was swallowed by darkness... 

--------

Gourry was the only one left. His mind, what little there was of it, had been on other things and so he hadn't noticed his friends disappearing all around him.

"Hey, where did everybody go?" He scratched his head, confused. He began to look for them in odd places around the clearing. Odd places which consisted of under rocks and behind trees that were obviously too small for anyone to hide behind, even Lina. Just when he was about to give up, he saw a tray on the ground with a delicious looking meal.

"Hmmm... I _am_ hungry..." He said with a smile as he bent down to pick it up. When he touched it, he was enveloped in darkness... 

--------

Lina couldn't see anything in the current darkness. After she was done beating herself up for her complete stupidity, she tried to get a look at her surroundings. She discovered that there was either nothing to see, or the darkness that hung in the air was just too thick. Right when she was about to give up and pick a direction, she heard the most horrendous laugh in the entire world... and she knew exactly who it was.

"Naga..." She said to herself with a slight laugh. She turned towards the laugh, and sure enough, there stood Naga the White Serpent.

"My, my Lina, you sure haven't changed!"

"And neither have you Naga..." Lina said lazily, all but excited at seeing her so-called 'rival' again.

"Still stealing from bandits, Lina?" She asked with a smirk.

"Still an idiot, Naga?" Lina replied coldly.

"Now, Lina! That's harsh. You always were so mean to me!" Naga said feigning innocence and tears. Lina just rolled her eyes.

"Naga, just tell me what you want so I can get out of here!" Lina demanded.

"But, Lina! It's been years! We have a lot of catching up to do!" Naga said, as if they were old childhood friends.

"Naga, I don't want to catch up with you! And I know you well enough to know that's not why you're here!"

"Hmm... You're quite right, Lina..." 

--------

Gourry stared into the infinite darkness, confused. He wasn't sure what happened. One minute he was about to help himself to a nice meal; the next, he was here. Wherever 'here' was. Then he heard a familiar voice come from somewhere in the darkness straight ahead of him.

"Gourry, Dear! Oh, Gourry Dear, I've been looking for you!"

"Uhhh... Sylphiel? What are you doing here?" Gourry asked as Sylphiel ran up to him.

"Why, looking for you of course! Oh, it's been so long!"

"Uhh..." was Gourry's only response as he tried to think of exactly how long it had been.

"Gourry, didn't you miss me?" Sylphiel asked pitifully in a small whimper.

"Really I don't guess I've thought about it, Sylphiel." Gourry said unaware of how this response would upset her.

"Gourry..." Sylphiel said as tears formed in her eyes.

"Well, Sylphiel, I better go find Lina. She'll be mad if I get lost again... and I really don't feel like being fire-balled today."

"Lina... I should have known you'd still be with her... Tell me Gourry, What's so special about a little girl who throws out powerful spells, that could kill us all... needlessly!" Sylphiel said as rage seeped into her voice and madness in her eyes.

Gourry looked at her rather hurt as he said: "Sylphiel, what's gotten into you? Lina's not like that... and you know it! You've seen her fight! You know that she would never cast the Giga Slave unless she had no choice!"

"She cast it to save you." Sylphiel said quietly.

"She didn't... she did it to defeat Phibrizzo." He said trying to convince himself as much as Sylphiel.

"You know she did, Gourry." All the usual sweetness that she had was completely gone now. "It looks like she has complete control of you now. Good-bye Gourry Dear..." Sylphiel said sadly as she disappeared back into the darkness.

"Sylphiel! What so you mean? Sylphiel!" Gourry called out into the darkness, desperately. Now he was alone again, staring into the darkness where Sylphiel once stood. He was now even more confused than before... 

--------

Zelgadiss drew his broadsword, not wanting to be caught of guard again. He strained his eyes and tried to detect any kind of movement in the darkness. He couldn't see anything. Then, from the corner of his eye, he saw something white, contrasting to the black. He carefully walked forward to see what it was. The white light slowly grew as he approached. Eventually it took on the shape of a girl, a girl shrouded completely in the white light. It was the same girl that held the so-called 'Claire Bible' that brought him here.

"You! Who are you!? Where am I!?" Zelgadiss screamed at the girl. She simply held up her hand in reply, to silence him. Then the girl spoke up. She spoke quietly, but very precisely.

"I am one of many physical embodiments of the Claire Bible."

"You're...you're the Claire Bible?" Zelgadiss asked in disbelief, not daring to hope.

"I am..." The Claire Bible replied.

"Ok, if you are the Claire Bible, then tell me; how do I reverse the effects of Rezo's spell. How do I get my human body back?" Zelgadiss asked as excitement took him over.

"I am afraid that I cannot say." The human Claire Bible replied evenly.

"Why? Why can't you!? You know don't you!? You know everything!" Zelgadiss demanded as panic and hysteria overwhelmed him. His dream was slowly slipping away, but he was determined to not let it.

"I know the cure you speak of. However I am forbidden to tell you at this precise moment."

"Then why are you here!? Why am I here!? If you can't tell me, then why did you appear before me!?" The Claire Bible had no reply; she just smiled at the desperation of the poor, forsaken chimera... 

--------

Amelia fell; face forward onto... nothing. At least that's what it looked like to her. She couldn't se anything; it was like nothing else existed. If she hadn't just fallen on something, she would have thought that it would continue forever.

"Daddy?" She called out timidly into the darkness.

"Hmmm...somehow I don't think that was daddy..."

"Amelia..." came a voice behind her. She turned to look and saw Prince Philionel, her daddy.

"Daddy, what's going on? Where are we? And where are the others?"

"Don't worry about them, Amelia... I'm sure they're fine." The crowned prince of Sairuun said. However, Amelia wasn't convinced...

"We should go find them!"

"Now Amelia, there's no need for that! They'll get out on their own, come on let's go home." he grabbed her hand and started to pull her away.

"Wait! No! We can't just leave them! We have to find them!" Amelia argued as she tried to free her hand. Prince Phil yanked her arm sharply and glared at her.

"Amelia! Listen to your father! Now, I said that we're going!" Amelia glared back at him.

"No, you're not my father. My father would never treat me like this," Freeing her arm she cast her spell at the false Prince Phil.

"Elmekia Lance!" His image disintegrated into the surrounding darkness… 

--------

Lina stared at Naga with undisguised revulsion as she quietly awaited Naga's explanation.

"I'm actually here to ask a small favor of you..." Naga said with complete innocence and friendship.

"Whatever it is... the answer's no." Lina replied coldly.

"Now, Lina, be reasonable!"

"I am being reasonable... I just don't do favors for mazoku." All the pretenses dropped as the fake Naga took on an amused, yet slightly annoyed look.

"How'd you know?"

"Well, for one Naga doesn't usually ask for 'favors', she'd just take whatever she wanted... and if that didn't work she'd ask someone else to help her get it. Then, Naga doesn't have enough magical power to create an alternate dimension like this, and she doesn't have the connections to find someone to do it for her. It also reeks of mazoku energy, but that was just a bonus."

"Hm. Well, suit yourself. If you don't want to hear me out then you can find your way out of here yourself!" With this last statement the mazoku disappeared back into the darkness. 

--------

Gourry wandered around aimlessly in the dark. Every now and again he would hear voices and go towards them, only to find more darkness. More often than not, it was the voice of Lina. He stood completely still, listening for any indications of sound or life. After several moments, he heard the voice again. He ran in the direction of the voice, hoping that he wouldn't run into anything. He heard another voice along with Lina's, a voice he had never heard before... or if he had heard it , he didn't remember. The voice belonged to a woman, that much he was certain of... one with a very annoying laugh. He heard Lina's voice once more, this time much closer.

"Lina! Lina, where are you?" He called out to her. Then the voices stopped, and all was silent again for a moment. Then he heard someone behind him... directly behind him.

"Yo, jellyfish brain! I'm right here!"

"Lina?" Gourry asked as he turned around.

"Yeah! Who'd you think it was? Shabrinigdo?" Lina asked sarcastically.

"Shaba-who?" Gourry asked, confused.

"SHABRINIGDO! Aahh... never mind." Lina began and then gave up knowing that if he hadn't figured it out by now, he wasn't going to.

"Hey, Lina, are the others with you?"

"No, they must still be lost in here somewhere."

"Oh, well I guess we should go find them." Gourry stated matter-of-factly.

"Oh, don't worry about them, Gourry! They'll find their way out eventually..." Lina replied nonchalantly.

"But Lina..." He didn't understand why she would want to just abandon Amelia and Zelgadiss.

"Come ON Gourry! We need to get moving if we ever want to get out of here!" She called to him over her shoulder as she hurried on through the darkness. Gourry took another glance back to where he thought he'd heard Lina and someone else talking, and then hurried after her. 

--------

"Answer me!" Zelgadiss screamed. Still the Claire Bible made no reply. Instead she lifted her hand, palm facing upward. She quietly chanted a small spell that created a ball of light in her hand. Zelgadiss thought it_ looked _like a simple lighting spell, but the spell she said was not the same as the one he knew. Which meant that it could be anything. Some kind of new spell he didn't know about.

He brought his broadsword up and prepared himself for the worst.

"I know what you are thinking. You are trying to figure out what spell I cast. You know it's not as simple as it looks… that's why you're on guard. The worst kind of spell is that of an unknown origin. Which most likely means the caster isn't humans." The Claire Bible said with a playful smile. "But then, you knew that."

"Well if you're so damn smart, then tell me what I want to know… that or stop the charades." Zelgadiss snarled, never dropping eye contact on the glowing orb.

"Then I guess the game is over…" She lifted her arm holding the glowing orb high above her head. "…And the fight begins."

Hot, white beams exploded from the glowing orb in an expanding circumference around the girl. Zelgadiss cursed and dove to the side narrowly avoiding one of them.

"What the hell kind of spell is that?!" Zelgadiss screamed as he did his best to avoid the continuous barrage of power. Quickly, he chanted a spell of his own. Releasing it into the surface he was standing on, he was surprised to see that it caused barely a ripple. "What the…?"

"That spell won't work here, along with many others. You can do nothing involving the elements for they do not exist on this plane." The Claire Bible explained with a childish giggle.

Zelgadiss curse again as the realization of how grave the situation was hit him. Without being able to use elemental attack spells, which took out most if not all of Shamanic magic… his specialty…

--------

Amelia wandered aimlessly in the infinite black abyss. She feared that if she stayed put too long, some other false image or mazoku might track her. Of course she had no idea where she was going, so for all she knew, she could be heading straight for the enemy.

_Well, at least that would be something…_ She sighed and looked around. Absolutely nothing had changed. She strained her eyes to try and see something, _anything_, but there was still nothing.

"Lost?" Asked a very welcomed voice from behind her.

"Mr. Zelgadiss! Oh, thank goodness! Have you seen Gourry or Lina?" Amelia asked as relief ran through her.

"No, not yet. They are probably still lost in here somewhere."

"Where exactly are we?"

"I'm not sure. Best I can tell we are on some kind of alternate plane… maybe somewhere between our physical plane and the astral plane." Zelgadiss guessed as he looked around.

"Yeah, maybe… but what could be powerful enough to create this plane and bring us here? And for what purpose…"

"Well, isn't that obvious? You're here so I can kill you." Zelgadiss said calmly as a maniacal smile spread across his stone features.

Amelia's eyes widened.

"What? Mr. Zelgadiss what are you…" Amelia started to ask.

"SILENCE!" Zelgadiss drew his broadsword and lunged towards her…

--------

"Maybe I should have listened to what she had to say…" Lina had been wandering around for what seemed to be hours. She had given up all attempts to see in the darkness long ago. There had been no other signs of life or anything else for that matter, since the mazoku. "Ugh! How do I get out of here?!"

"I'm afraid that the only way out is when I lift the spell." Lina turned to see Xelloss.

"Great! Lift the spell!" Lina commanded although she knew that it wouldn't be that easy

"Now Lina… you know that I can't do that… at least not until certain conditions are met." He replied with a smile.

"And what might those conditions be?" Lina asked coldly, knowing that whatever they were, they would not be good.

"Simply cast the Giga Slave…then I'll lift the spell." Whatever Lina had been expecting to hear, that wasn't it.

"What? The Giga Slave? What makes you think I'll actually do that?!"

"Well if getting out of here is not a good enough motivator, then let me show you something." Xelloss lifted his staff into the darkness and two blurry scenes appeared. In one of them, Zelgadiss was losing fight with a strange girl Lina had never seen before. In the other, Amelia was being attacked by another Zelgadiss.

"Huh? What's going on?"

"The Zelgadiss fighting Amelia is a fake. You see, we have put your friends up against opponents that they will be reluctant to fight. In both cases this will make them hesitant to fight back until they are eventually defeated." Xelloss explained.

"But who is the girl fighting Zelgadiss?"

"One of the physical embodiments of the Claire Bible."

"And you're showing me this, because…"

"The only way to save your friends from being killed is to cast the Giga Slave."

"Which could kill them anyway. Nice try, but Amelia and Zelgadiss can hold their own."

"Yes, but for how long?" Xelloss signed. "I was afraid that it would come to this…but you have given me no choice." Then another image appeared.

"Gourry!"

--------

Gourry followed Lina in silence, but nothing around them had changed at all since they started out.

"Uh, Lina…do you know where we're going?" Lina looked at him.

"Of course I do!" She replied.

"How can you tell? Everything looks the same…" Lina stopped and looked at him.

"Yeah, I guess it does! Oh, well… I suppose here's as good a spot as any."

"For what, exactly?"

"For killing you of course!" Gourry was startled by her last declaration.

"But Lina! What did I do this time?!" Gourry backed up slightly, fearing that he was about to be fireballed.

"I would go ahead and draw the Sword of Light if I were you."

"Huh? Why?" Gourry looked at her with confusion. "I don't sense anyone nearby us…"

"Man, you really are an idiot! Oh well, that was your last warning." Lina closed her eyes and began chanting her spell.

"Sword of cold and darkness, 

_Free yourself from the heavens' bonds,_

_Become one with my power, one with my body,_

_And let us walk the path of destruction together._

_Power that can smash even the souls of the gods…_

_RAGNA BLADE!"_

A sword made of dark energy formed in her hands as she lunged at Gourry.

"Whoa! Lina! What are you doing?!"

"Well, I figured that it wouldn't be fair to attack you with spells since you can't use magic yourself… so I figured that I'd level the playing field." Gourry dodged her next attack, still not having drawn the Sword of Light.

"Lina! Cut it out!"

"I'm not playing around! Draw your sword, or die!"

--------

Amelia dodged Zelgadiss' attack.

"Why are you doing this?!"

"Let's just say that I got tires of hearing all of that justice loving crap!" He came at her again and she narrowly missed it.

_Oh no… What should I do? I don't want to hurt him!_ She thought franticly trying to come up with a solution. _Wait… he's part golem so I can fight back without having to worry about causing too much damage…as long as I don't use the more powerful spells anyway._

"Elmekia Lance!" He dodged her spell effortlessly and made to attack her again. She wasn't as lucky.

Zelgadiss' blade cut down deep into her shoulder. She cried out in pain as she sunk down to her knees. Zelgadiss faced her.

"Now you die."

--------

Lina watched as a fake version of herself ruthlessly attacked an unarmed Gourry with the Ragna Blade.

"You idiot! Why isn't he attacking?!"

"He doesn't know that it's not really you and he doesn't want to harm you. I'd say that the situation looks grim. He can't keep up that pace forever without making a mistake… and we both know how detrimental it would be if he were to be struck by the Ragna Blade."

"Damn!" Lina could see Xelloss' point but still… Cast the Giga Slave? There's no telling what would happen, even in the alternate plane.

She continued to watch Gourry struggle, hoping that he would get the hint and actually start putting up a fight, but he didn't. Then her fake self released the dark energy forming the blade. The energy dissipated into the darkness and she stood facing Gourry; studying him.

"You're more stubborn than I thought… I guess I have no choice." The fake Lina said. Then she began chanting a new spell.

"What?! Dragon Slave?!" The real Lina watched in horror as her counterpart chanted, collecting energy for the spell.

"I'd say that one's going to be a little harder to dodge, don't you think?" Xelloss asked, amused.

"A little harder?! More like impossible! There's nowhere for him to take cover in this place! It would be a direct hit!" Panic rose in Lina's voice. Was she really about to see Gourry die?

"You can stop it Lina. All you have to do is cast the Giga Slave. Quick, what's your decision?"

She was faced with the same problem as before: Gourry…or the world? She had no choice. "All right! Stop her from casting the Dragon Slave and you've got yourself a Giga Slave!" Lina said quickly.

"Done." Xelloss disappeared and the three images dissolved. Lina sighed.

"Damn, what have I done?"

--------

Xelloss walked through the stone chambers that belonged to his master quickly. He needed to report in before proceeding with the plan. He entered the throne room and dropped down to one knee before his master.

"Well?" Zelas Metalium asked her servant.

"Everything is in order. Lina's agreed to cast the Giga Slave."

"Very good, Xelloss! Was it difficult to convince her?"

"Not once she saw Gabriev was in danger." Zelas smiled.

"Haha, human weakness…it can be so convenient at times…what about the other three that are with her?"

"They are all still alive. That shouldn't last long, though."

"None of them have figured out how to escape the plane yet?"

"No, my lord."

"Excellent. Report back to me once she's cast it."

"Yes, my lord."

--------

Moments later, Xelloss reappeared before Lina.

"So, are you ready?"

"You so realize what's going to happen right? Remember what happened to Phibrizzo?"

"I remember. But unlike Lord Hellmaster, I don't have a death wish."

Lina paused to think about what she was about to do. _Does this mean that the Lord of Nightmares is going to take over my body again?_ Then she reminded herself that there were other possibilities…like destroying the world if she lost control. She shook her head. She couldn't think about that now. All that mattered was saving Gourry; just like last time.

"Ready?" Xelloss asked again. Lina nodded and began chanting.

"Darkness beyond blackest pitch, Deeper than the deepest night. 

_King of Darkness who shines like gold upon the Sea of Chaos;_

_I call upon thee, swear myself to thee._

_Let the fools who stand before me be destroyed by the power you and I possess…"_

--------

_Damn…I need to think of something!_ Zelgadiss was wearing down; he knew that he couldn't continue dodging the blasts from the spell much longer. _But I can't use spells, and I can't get close enough to attack with my sword!_ Then he remembered one spell he could use: Ra Tilt. It wasn't elemental. The only problem was that if her actually made a direct hit, then it would probably completely destroy the Claire Bible, and he wasn't sure he wanted to do that.

Then another thought occurred to him. He had no proof that the girl before him actually was the Claire Bible, and even if she was, she may not have the information that he needed. She had said that she did, but that was just her word.

Maybe she only said that to make me hesitant about fighting her…and if that were the case, then Ra Tilt would be the thing to use. Having made up his mind, he quickly chanted his spell. When he had finished, he got as close to her as he could before releasing it. 

"RA TILT!"

Zelgadiss watched as the girl who claimed to be the Claire Bible was engulfed by the blue power of his spell. A second later, she was gone.

He heard the sounds of a battle behind him and was surprised to see Amelia fighting himself.

"What the…"

------

"Now, what reason do I have to kill her?" The real Zelgadiss asked as he approached them. Amelia looked from one Zelgadiss to the other, very confused. The fake Zelgadiss faced the real one.

"Well, I guess the game is over." The fake one stated.

_Game? That's what that girl I was fighting said too…_ Zelgadiss thought.

"You're right! Amelia, we need to destroy him!"

"How? If he is like you, then he's part golem." Amelia said as she clutched her wounded shoulder.

"Yeah, but he's not me…" Zelgadiss cast a spell on his broadsword and charged. Expecting the blade to do no damage, the fake Zelgadiss made no move to block it. He had not taken into account the spell that Zelgadiss attached to the blade. Zelgadiss finished him off with one strike and watched as his counterpart disappeared.

"Are you ok, Amelia?"

"Yeah, I'll be alright. What's going on here?"

"I don't know, but after I defeated my opponent I found you. So, now maybe we can find one of the others.

"Do you think that whatever this plane is gets weaker with each enemy defeated?"

"It's possible…"

------

Gourry stared at Lina, not believing that he was still alive. Lina had stopped casting the Dragon Slave at the very last minute. Now she was just standing there, glaring at him. He was still confused, not knowing what he did to make her so mad. Then he heard someone calling out his name. He turned to se Zelgadiss and Amelia running towards him.

"Oh thank goodness we found you two!" Amelia said as she tried to catch her breath.

"Wait, how do we know if they are both the real Lina and Gourry?" Zelgadiss asked skeptically. Gourry looked at him, confused.

"We're not real? Hm… I thought I was real…" Gourry got a strange look on his face as he attempted to process this.

"Well, we know that Mr. Gourry's real, but what about miss Lina?" Amelia asked.

"Hey Gourry, has she been acting strangely or trying to kill you or anything like that?" Zelgadiss asked.

"Yeah, and she won't tell me what I did!"

"Ok, then she's a fake. Well, probably… Lina does try to kill Gourry nearly on a daily basis… but since she's not saying anything, my bet is that she is a fake. Ok Gourry, you need to kill her."

"What? I can't kill Lina!"

"That's not Lina! Just do it Gourry so we can find the real Lina." Gourry looked at Zelgadiss suspiciously before drawing the Sword of Light. Lina didn't move or even blink as he slowly approached her. It was like she was a puppet and the puppet master had decided to abandon her. However, Gourry still hesitated.

"I'm sorry, Lina…I hope they're right…" He quickly thrust his sword into her and watched as her body disappeared moments later.

------

_Well, here it goes…there's no stopping now…_ Lina thought as she came to the end of the spell. The power circling around her and coursing through her was immense. She could barely hold onto it, but she was afraid of what would happen once she released it. _I can't keep this up…come on Lina, just do it!_ She prepared herself and began to say the power words that would cast the spell, but then she heard someone call her name. The concentrated power of the Giga Slave was so overwhelming that she couldn't see who it was that was calling out to her.

"Lina! No! Stop! Don't cast the Giga Slave!"

_Gourry?_ Her concentration on the spell slipped and the energy broke from her hold and pierced through her body like a thousand arrows. She felt herself sink to the ground as she struggled to contain the energy and suppress it. The easiest way to get rid of the energy would be to finish casting it, but if Gourry was safe, then there was no reason to risk the world. Plus, her strength and concentration were failing increasing the likelihood that the spell would have devastating effects.

Slowly the energy around her died down until she was left collapsed on the dark floor, barely conscious.

"Lina!" She heard Gourry's voice and the sound of people running. She got the strange notion that the darkness around her was getting lighter and she though that she could see some trees, but before she could comprehend what was happening, she returned to darkness as she lost consciousness completely.

------

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't you say that they hadn't figured it out?" Zelas asked angrily.

"Yes, my lord… they must have figured it out after I talked to you last."

"And why didn't you stop them?!"

"I… I was unaware of the situation until it was too late…" Zelas stood from her throne and grabbed one of the urns that resided beside her throne and threw it at Xelloss.

"You were unaware?! And why the hell was that?! We need Lina Inverse to cast the Giga Slave!! Do you understand?!" Zelas screamed at her servant.

"Yes, my lord." Xelloss answered quietly.

Zelas sat back down on her throne and rubbed her head trying to calm herself.

"All right… we'll just have to think of something else… You're dismissed." Xelloss nodded, rose slowly, and left.

------

The next day, Xelloss appeared before the four travelers, smiling as though nothing had happened.

"Xelloss! You've got some nerve showing up here after what you did!" Lina shouted at him.

"Why Lina, I'm shocked! You know that I was only following orders."

"But those orders almost got us all killed! Not to mention destroying the world! You can't have it both ways! If you want to travel with us, then you need to stop trying to kill us!"

"I am a mazoku after all… killing is what I do." Lina sighed and turned away.

"Fine, I can see that this is going nowhere. Come on guys, let's get going." The other three all looked at Xelloss suspiciously, not wanting to turn their backs on the trickster priest. They all followed Lina reluctantly. Xelloss just smiled.

------

_That damn Xelloss! I can never figure out what he's up to! I wonder whose orders he's following now… Phibrizzo is dead, but it appears that they have the same agenda…_ Lina looked over her shoulder at Xelloss. _Well, there's nothing I can do about it right now, except to keep an eye on him…_

"Hey Lina, is it really a good idea to let him come with us?" Gourry asked her quietly.

"Who's letting him?! Well, if we don't then he'll just follow us anyway…at least this way we can watch him to see if he's up to something else…"

"Yeah, I guess…"

Lina was sure that he was up to something else, but as to what that something was, she had no idea.

Once again she looked over her shoulder. Xelloss smiled at her.

Ugh…this is going to be a long day if he keeps up that obnoxious smiling… 


End file.
